Do you still remember the construction worker Yi Qunlin who played the piano on the streets of Shenzhen, Guangdong?
▲Lao Yi really broke out of the industry when he played the charity piano in Huaqiangbei in April last year.
In April 2023, Yi Qunlin unexpectedly became popular due to the video of "Huaqiangbei construction workers playing piano". In the video, the black and white piano keys dance under Yi Qunlin's dark hands. He was wearing an orange vest, a hard hat and mud-stained rubber shoes that he had just finished work and had not had time to change into. Yi Qunlin comes from Yueyang, Hunan, and people around him call him Lao Yi. During the year-end planning in 2023, a reporter from Red Star News went to Shenzhen to interview Lao Yi. During the eight months of his popularity, Lao Yi rejected the kindness of many enthusiastic people to donate pianos and accidentally picked up a broken piano from a demolition site. He used local materials, wire and cement from the construction site to build his own cement piano.
▲Lao Yi received an invitation to the Spring Festival Gala in his dormitory in Shenzhen
In mid-January this year, construction worker Lao Yi received an invitation to the Spring Festival Gala from CCTV and had the opportunity to watch the Year of the Dragon Spring Festival Gala. In front of his cement piano, when he opened the invitation letter "Spring Festival Gala Waiting for You", Lao Yi was so excited that his hands kept trembling. "I, an old farmer, have never dreamed that I can be in this glorious moment." Lao Yi explain.
▲On the evening of the 21st, Lao Yi participated in the Spring Festival Gala rehearsal
On January 19, Lao Yi came to the main station CCTV hall to perform, attracting everyone to stop and watch. Lao Yi smiled shyly and said, "If I have a chance, I wonder if Teacher Lang Lang can guide me." On the evening of the 21st, international pianist Lang Lang responded to the piano appointment remotely on Weibo and became a hot search. Lang Lang said: "Brother Yi, I saw your video and like your spirit of loving life. Thank you for your like! I am also looking forward to seeing you!"
▲ According to Lang Lang Weibo
on the morning of January 22, Lao Yi His son Yi Wenli told Red Star News that in mid-January, they suddenly received an invitation to the Spring Festival Gala from CCTV, and the whole family was surprised. At present, he and Lao Yi have successfully arrived in Beijing to participate in the rehearsal of the Spring Festival Gala. Previously, Lao Yi told Red Star News that he had not returned to his hometown of Huarong in Yueyang, Hunan for three or four years. This year he planned to return to his hometown to celebrate the New Year and see the green waters and mountains of his hometown and the familiar elders. After
became popular, a boss from Huarong's hometown in Hunan offered Lao Yi a security job and placed a piano in the lobby on the first floor of the company for Lao Yi to play. But Lao Yi couldn't sit still. On weekends, he returned to the construction site to work part-time. After working for more than a month, Lao Yi quit his security job and returned to the construction site he was familiar with.
Lao Yi said that he preferred the days when there were no ceilings on the construction site. When he first arrived in Shenzhen in 2004, Lao Yi worked in a garment factory and a toy factory in Guangming District, and later worked as a cleaner, but he felt that these were not as free as entering the construction site later. At the construction site, when he was tired, he could put away the shovel and continue working overtime to finish the endless work. During the lunch break, I and my co-workers crawled into a 1-meter-wide cement pipe hole to sleep. It was windy outside and there were all kinds of sounds.
unexpectedly became popular in 2023. For Lao Yi, who is nearly sixty years old, it is more of a distant game on the Internet. In real life, his life has also improved a lot: he flew to Beijing for the first time to record a CCTV music program. After more than 40 years, he regained the understanding of his musical interests from those around him. What he values most is that he finally got a piano of his own and a 10-square-meter space to be alone with music.
▲ Lao Yi plays the piano in the dormitory at the construction site. The piano was picked up and repaired by him.
"Life is much better than before, and working on the construction site is more energetic." Lao Yi is grateful for the support from the outside world, and his The musical journey is not over yet. He thought that if he could no longer work at the construction site in the future, he would transport the piano back to his hometown in Hunan and continue playing in the countryside and on the edge of the fields.
Red Star News reporter Cai Xiaoyi
Editor Guo Yu Editor-in-Chief Feng Lingling
Previous report: To be continued in 2023丨58-year-old construction worker in Huaqiangbei: Still working on the construction site after becoming popular, he built a cement piano for himself
